March 15, 2012

Contact: Linda Farmer, APR | Director of Communications
Association of Washington School Principals
O: 360.357.7951 | C: 253.232.2891
lindaf@awsp.org

Washington State High School Principal of the Year Award
Goes to Toppenish Leader

Toppenish High School Principal Trevor Greene Takes Home the Honors

OLYMPIA - Trevor Greene, principal at Toppenish High School in Toppenish (Toppenish SD), is this year’s Washington State High School Principal of the Year.

Greene was named this year’s High School Principal of the Year by the Association of Washington School Principals (AWSP). A panel of principals representing the Washington Association of Secondary School Principals, a component of AWSP, selected him from a pool of regional nominees.

Greene, who has served as principal at Toppenish High since June 2008, has pulled all facets of the learning community together in support of increasing student achievement. The selection panel noted two practices that contributed toward personalizing the learning environment at Toppenish:

Implementation of grade-level cohorts. Greene assembled grade-level cohorts with a teacher-mentor focus which allows for rapid identification of academic, social or emotional challenges that require immediate attention. Connecting each student with a caring adult has been an effective technique in a school that has more than 99 percent of its student body qualifying for free and reduced lunch.

Each cohort of students meets daily for 24 minutes in an advisory class where a positive relationship can be established between the students and a teacher-mentor. Classes also focus on progress toward academic goals and achievement beyond high school. In addition, teacher-mentors make regular contact with parents regarding student performance, and they follow up with school personnel such as counselors and specialists.

“This deliberate placement of the student in the crosshairs of improvement has served to motivate all constituents,” said Greene.

The full realization of engineering and biomedical programs. The introduction of STEM-related (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) classes have positively changed the culture of the school and engaged students in reasoning, manipulating, testing, exploring, predicting, questioning, observing and making sense of the natural and physical world. Administrative research, input from parents and students, and CTE advisory board insight led to large-scale implementation of engineering and biomedical science classes.

Class sizes are deliberately kept small (21.438 average) and instructors attend advanced training. Furthermore, student interest is off the charts. Enrollment in chemistry has increased by 170 percent, in trigonometry by 71 percent and in the “University of Washington in the High School” program for pre-calculus for college credit by a whopping 226 percent. Student achievement has followed. State science assessment scores grew 67 percent from 2008-2009 (pre-STEM) to 2010-2011.  STEM interest has even spread to other subjects as the Spanish department now offers a bilingual medical terminology course and the English department is looking to expand to offer technical writing.

Before becoming principal at the high school, Greene was principal at Toppenish Middle School for the 2007-2008 school year. Before that, he was principal for the 2006-2007 school year and vice principal for the 2005-2006 school year at Highland Junior High School in Cowiche (Highland SD). He began his career as a Spanish teacher in the early 1990s in Utah, then taught Spanish, English and PE in the Yakima School District.

Greene earned his bachelor of arts degree in Spanish and English from Brigham Young University, his master of arts in education from Central Washington University and his superintendent certification from Washington State University.

Local and State Honors
Greene will be honored locally. Check with the Toppenish School District for details. In October 2012, Greene will be honored alongside the state elementary and middle level principals of the year at AWSP’s Annual Principals’ Conference.

Honored at the National Level
Greene now becomes eligible for the 2012 National Principals of the Year award. The program, sponsored by MetLife and the National Association of Secondary School Principals, annually recognizes outstanding high school and middle level principals. From the state winners, six finalists (three middle level, three high school) will compete for the award in Washington, D.C., later this year. For more information, visit www.nassp.org.

About the Association of Washington School Principals
The Association of Washington School Principals is a professional association serving principals, assistant principals and principals in training. Formed in 1972, the association now includes more than 3,400 members from public and private elementary, middle and high schools statewide. It is governed by a board of practicing principals drawn from three grade-specific boards representing the elementary, middle and high school levels. For more information, visit www.awsp.org.

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AWSP MEDIA CONTACTS

Linda Farmer, APR | Director of Communications | 360.357.7951 | lindaf@awsp.org

Bob McMullen | Director of High School Programs | 360.357.7951 | bob@awsp.org